DECISION MAKING: INTUTIVE V/S ANALYTIC

     6/10/2009 (WEEK SIX: RETIREMENT)
We have been busy for the last two weeks with the builders who were doing some renovation work to our house. They started work at about 8 am and carried on till 4 or 5 pm with about an hour’s lunch break in the middle. First few days were really tiresome but then we got into a routine, getting up and ready by 7:30 in the morning and handing over the house to them at 8.
I mostly sat in my study while Bibha supervised the work. If the builders wanted a decision on something or other she would tell them she is going to ask me. She would come in the study and tell me the problem and we will discuss the various solutions till I agreed with what she had already decided. I would only insist on things when I had enough information to make a decision but what do I know about tiles, mirrors and toilets?

My wife is very good in making intuitive decisions when there is not enough information or the information is equivocal. I am not good at making intuitive decisions. I need to collect as much information as possible and consider the pros and cons based on that data. This is the way I took decisions as a surgeon. It does seems like a good way of doing things but in practice it is only helpful in a very few situations. Nowadays so many different materials and styles are on offer that to make an informed choice is not possible unless you plan to specialise in that field and devote a life time acquiring the necessary information.

Our great grand ancestors used intuitive decision making as they had little information about their environment. It is paradoxical that that in this new information age we have to increasingly rely again on Intuitive decision making precisely because so much data is available.

Now my intuition tells me that a cup of coffee will be good for me.

Bye.